諺語英譯漢翻譯策略；歸化、異化 A Study of Translation Strategies on Proverbs from English into Chinese

1、諺語英譯漢翻譯策略；歸化、異化a study of translation strategies on proverbs from english into chinese論文摘要在全球化發(fā)展的今日，不同文化之間的依賴在逐漸加深，交流也日益頻繁。眾所周知，語言既是交流工具同時(shí)也是文化的載體。作為文化的特殊組成成分諺語蘊(yùn)涵著深厚的文化背景，它們是一個(gè)民族語言和文化的精粹。諺語形式簡潔、蘊(yùn)意豐富、形象生動(dòng)而且內(nèi)容極具說服力。諺語所涵蓋的內(nèi)容涉及社會(huì)的方方面面。因此，在介紹一個(gè)民族或國家的文化時(shí)，對于諺語的理解和翻譯就顯得尤為重要。本文嘗試探討英語諺語的漢譯，重點(diǎn)在于歸化和異化的翻譯策略在諺語翻譯過

2、程中的運(yùn)用。文章著重選取了30個(gè)英語諺語為例進(jìn)行分析。根據(jù)諺語的不同特點(diǎn)以及諺語的翻譯原則將這30個(gè)諺語分為4類，同時(shí)針對不同類別的諺語，作者選擇了不同的翻譯策略：歸化、異化、歸化和異化的結(jié)合等。通過分析我們得出結(jié)論，為了更好地介紹源語言的文化、更好地促進(jìn)文化交流，我們應(yīng)盡量采用異化的翻譯策略；而在我們遇到文化理解障礙時(shí)，歸化又是非常有益的輔助。本文作者希望借助對英語諺語翻譯的分析研究能更深入地理解英語諺語以及說英語的國家的文化，同時(shí)也希望此次研究能對將來的翻譯實(shí)踐起到指導(dǎo)和幫助的作用。關(guān)鍵詞：諺語；翻譯策略；歸化；異化abstract nowadays, with the developme

3、nt of globalization, there is a greater interdependence upon and a more frequent communication between different cultures than ever before. as we know, language serves as a carrier of culture as well as a kind of tool for communication. as a special element of culture, proverbs have profound cultura

4、l background. they are the essence of a nations language and culture. they are concise in forms, rich in meanings, vivid in images and rhetorical devices. their content covered by the proverbs includes almost every aspect of the society. the understanding and translation of them, therefore, play an

5、important role in introducing a nations culture.the research attempts to study the translation of english proverbs into chinese, and the application of domestication and foreignization strategies on proverbs translation.the thesis cites 30 english proverbs as examples for analysis, which are classif

6、ied into 4 categories. according to proverbs translation principles as well as the characteristics of proverbs, we need to select different strategies to deal with the 4 categories: domestication, foreignization, and combinization of domestication and foreignization. from the analysis, we can conclu

7、de that the foreignization is adopted rather than domestication for the aim of culture communication; while domestication is adopted as an important aid to avoid culture misunderstanding in some certain circumstances.by carrying on such a research, the author attempts to adequately appreciate englis

8、h proverbs and english-speaking countries culture and whats more, to apply appropriate translation strategies into the future translation practices.key words: proverb; translation strategy; domestication; foreignization table of contentspages1. introduction .1.1 research background1.2 research objec

9、tive1.3 research methods.1.4 thesis structure.1111221.12. rationale .22.1 definitions of proverbs.2.2 characteristics of proverbs.2.2.1 linguistic characteristics.2.2.2 cultural characteristics.2.3 translation principles of proverbs.2.3.1 preservation of the original flavour2.3.2 faithfulness of the

10、 original content2.3.3 maintenance of the original style 2.4 translation strategies2.4.1 domestication2.4.2 foreignization2.4.3 comparison between domestication & foreignization with free translation & literal translation.2223333444453. data description . .4. analysis of the data.5. results . 6. con

11、clusion. . bibliography.appendix i: analysis data551011131520a study of translation strategies on proverbs from english into chinese1. introductionthe introduction comprises project background, objective, methodology of the research, and the structure of the thesis.1.1 the research background nowada

12、ys, with the development of globalization, there is a greater interdependence upon and a more frequent communication between different cultures than before. as we know, language serves as a carrier of culture as well as a kind of tool for communication. and translation no doubt plays an important ro

13、le as a bridge of cross-cultural communication and transmission. translation is not only a bilingual activity but also a bicultural one. as a special element of culture, proverbs have profound cultural background. they are concise in forms, rich in meanings and vivid in images and rhetorical devices

14、. the content covered by the proverbs includes almost every aspect of the society. they are the essence of a nations language and culture which play an important role in introducing a nations culture. 1.2 the research objective the research attempts to study the translation of english proverbs into

15、chinese, and the application of domestication and foreignization strategies on proverbs translation. by carrying on such a research, the author attempts to adequately appreciate english proverbs and english-speaking countries culture and whats more, to apply appropriate translation strategies into t

16、he future translation practices. 1.3 the research methods the principle methods applied in this thesis are conceptualization, and comparison and evaluation. the methodology of conceptualization is applied throughout the rationale when the author presents the major concepts. a clear definition is a p

17、recondition of discussion on the important subjects. when the thesis progressed into the data analysis, the method of comparison and evaluation is adopted. the method is applied when dealing with most proverbs translation. 1.4 thesis structurethe thesis comprises five parts. in part one, a brief int

18、roduction is given to make clear the background, objectives, and methods of the present thesis. part two presents a literature review on the proverbs, which is divided into four sections, that is, definitions of proverbs, characteristics of proverbs, translation principles of proverbs and translatio

19、n strategies. part three studies the translation of english proverbs into chinese, which provides a number of examples for analysis. the fourth part illustrates the results of the analysis of the former part. after a relatively detailed discussion, the final part comes to a conclusion on the thesis.

20、2. rationale 2.1 definitions of proverb there are various definitions can be found in the dictionaries and the corresponding papers. early in the 12th century mathieu de vendme (quoted by paczolay, 199?) wrote that “a proverb is a popular phrase, accredited by custom, accepted by the general opinion

21、, expressing a truth that has been proved genuine.” wolfgang mieder, the american proverb scholar, defines the term proverb as “a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and whi

22、ch is handed down from generation to generation.” (mieder, 1985, p.119) the american heritage dictionary interprets proverb as “a short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept.” the similar interpretation given by the concise oxford dictionary o

23、f current english (allen, 1990, p.962) is “proverb is a short pithy saying in general use, held to embody a general truth”. from the description above, we can indicate that proverbs convey truth, wisdom or advice and they are concise in form and rhyme in sound and they are popular.2.2 characteristic

24、s of proverbs2.2.1 linguistic characteristicsboth chinese and english proverbs have certain typical stylistic features such as alliteration (practice makes perfect), parallelism (nothing ventured, nothing gained), rhyme (no pain, no gain), ellipsis (once bitten, twice shy), hyperbole (all is fair in

25、 love and war), etc. in addition, the chinese proverbs usually contain four-character idioms. and the english proverbs also have some internal features which include: paradox (the longest way around is the shortest way home), personification (hunger is the best cook) and so on.2.2.2 cultural charact

26、eristicsthe source of proverbs is rich. proverbs usually have profound cultural background. fore instance, english proverbs are of folk origin, from fables or legends and from classical works such as bible, shakespeares works, etc. since proverbs are the daughters of daily experiences, they reflect

27、peoples social experience and more reflect the living environment, the local traditions and customs, and the achievement of literature, etc. which are different aspects of the culture. proverbs contain special cultural elements, which is common and meaningful in one culture while meaningless or baff

28、ling in another. this gives proverbs an exotic color and may lead to the difficulties of translation without cross-culture knowledge. 2.3 translation principles of proverbs2.3.1 preservation of the original flavouras we discussed above, the proverbs possess some certain unique characteristics. since

29、 translation serves as a bridge between different cultures, it should transfer adequate, accurate information on the one hand, it also should preserve the unique characteristics of the original as much as possible on the other hand. here is an example, “two heads are better than one”. someone may tr

30、anslates it into “三個(gè)臭皮匠勝過諸葛亮”. its correct, but the translation loses the original flavour. it is more suitable to be translated as “一人不及兩人智”.2.3.2 faithfulness of the original contentthe meaning of a proverb is usually profound, not just a simple mechanical combination of the meanings of the words.

31、 translators should not take the lexical meaning for granted. “a closed mouth catches no flies” is an example. it may be translated into “病從口入”. its incorrect. the rendition may be based on the imagery association that flies are vehicles of disease; if people happen to eat something defiled by flies

32、, they may fall ill. while the original meaning is “a person who talks carelessly exposes himself to trouble”. it should be translated into “禍從口出”.2.3.3 maintenance of the original styleproverbs are usually presented in concise and simple form. some proverbs also have unique cultural terms which are

33、 marked with national identity. it is important to maintain the original style of the proverbs in the translation. for example, there are two possible versions for the english proverb “go to law for a sheep, lose a cow”: a. 撿了芝麻，丟了西瓜。b.打官司想要回一只羊，卻損失了一頭牛的錢。the first version can be regarded as faithfu

34、l to the english proverb at the first sight; it is an adaptation of original with a chinese proverb. however, the chinese proverbs implication is not exact as the english proverb which only conveys the meaning that what he gains is less than what he loses. the english proverb also reflects a western

35、 custom that people are used to going to law for a solution to the problem they meet. therefore version b is faithful to the original.2.4 translation strategies on how to deal with cultural differences which encountered in the process of translation, there exist two opposite points of view: domestic

36、ation and foreignization. 2.4.1 domestication domestication is an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural values, bringing the author of the source language into the target language culture. (venuti, 1995, p20) domestication is target-language-culture-oriented, which m

37、eans making the text transparent, fluent which is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers. (shuttleworth & cowie, 1997, p.59). 2.4.2 foreignizationforeignization is an ethnodeviant pressure on those values to register the linguistic and cultural d

38、ifference of the foreign text, sending the readers abroad”. (venuti, 1995, p20) foreignization is source-language-culture-oriented, which strives to preserve as much as possible the original flavor in order to retain the foreignness of the source language culture.2.4.3 comparison between domesticati

39、on & foreignization with free translation & literal translationthe two strategies domestication and foreignization are similar with the literal translation and free translation in certain way, but the focuses of the two pairs are different. literal translation and free translation focus on form and

40、content in translation, while domestication and foreignization deal with both linguistic and cultural factors. the focus of free translation and literal translation is meaning while the focus of domestication and foreignization is culture.3. description of the datathe author cites 30 popular english

41、 proverbs as the analysis data. each of them is attached one chinese version, which is convenient for comparison. the examples which applied in this paper are collected from two textbooks and some dissertations through the internet. the textbooks are cross-cultural communication (2000, 2nd ed.) by g

42、u yueguo (顧曰國) et al. and english through translation (2002) by lan chun (藍(lán)純). the internet is an effective way to get data, and its data is resourceful. however, therere data of low quality as well as high quality, which requires the necessity of selection. the dissertations are from the web site o

43、f cnki (中國知網(wǎng)), which is an authoritative data source comprising lots of excellent databases. the dissertations are followed: (1) a study on domestication and foreignization in e-c proverb translations (2006) by jing yuanyuan (井媛媛), (2) cultural strategies for the e-c/c-e proverb translation: foreign

44、ization and domestication (2002) by li qijiu (李氣糾), (3) english-chinese proverb translation: a cross-cultural perspective (2002) by zhao aili (趙愛莉), (4) foreignization and domestication in translation across culture (2006) by peng can (彭燦), (5) polydimension in proverb translation (2006) by lou baoc

45、hun (樓寶春), (6) a comparative study of chinese and english proverbs and their translation (2004) by zhang rui-e (張瑞娥), and several other dissertations alike.4. analysis of the datathere are varied methods or strategies on proverb translation from different aspects, while this thesis focuses on cultur

46、al aspect, and the analysis in this section will relatively detailedly explore the application of the translation strategies that followed: (1) foreignization, (2) domestication and (3) combination of foreignization and domestication.the example 2 “pride goes before destruction” is translated into “

47、驕者必?cái)　?and the example 3 “l(fā)ife is a shuttle” into “歲月如梭”, which impresses the readers that the english proverbs are equivalent to the chinese proverbs. as we know, the material world which the native speakers of english and the chinese people live in is the same despite the different origin of chines

48、e and english. the natural environment is basically the same, and peoples experiences and observations of the world are similar in many aspects. consequently, there are some similarities concerning choice of words in the chinese and english languages and there are cultural overlaps. the example 5 “t

49、he nearer the church, the father from god” means that those living near the church are worse than those living at a distance. “離教堂越近，離上帝越遠(yuǎn)” is a foreignizing one which uses the terms “教堂”and “上帝” keeping the alien flavour and impressing the readers with christian religion. “離廟越近，對佛越不敬” is a domestic

50、ating one which uses images “廟”and “佛” instead of “教堂”and “上帝”. though the connotative meaning is familiar to the chinese readers, it fails to transmit the original information and flavor considering the translation purpose for cultural communication. therefore, the former translation is more approp

51、riate.the connotative meaning of example 23 “god never shuts a door but opens another” is the same as the chinese proverb “天無絕人之路” which indicates that there is always a solution to a problem. however, “god” is from christianity, while “天” is a term reflecting cultural color of buddhism. the transla

52、tion “上帝關(guān)閉了一扇門，他又會(huì)打開另一扇門” dose not substitute the cultural term “god” with “天”, which retains the original english expression and at the same time keeps the religious color that embodied the beliefs of christian dominant in the english culture. the two proverbs above both carry a certain cultural co

53、lor of its nation. it is the cultural terms that give a proverb its peculiar cultural flavor. and the cultural terms will influence the transmission of culture in the process of translating proverbs.pudding is a kind of common traditional dessert that british people usually eat after dinner. pudding

54、 is essential in the life of british people. in this sense, “pudding” in proverb “praise is not pudding” becomes a cultural term whose implication is “anything that one must live on in his life”. therefore, the translated version “贊揚(yáng)不能當(dāng)布丁吃” is more faithful to the source language culture and is bett

55、er than “贊揚(yáng)不能當(dāng)飯吃”. though “pudding” and its cultural implication may sound foreign to a chinese receptor, three is no problem for him to comprehend the meaning of the proverb. the reason is that western food like bread, cheese, milk and pudding are widely known and enjoy popular comprehension in chi

56、nese community. therefore, the former version conveys not only the connotative meaning but also the exotic cultural flavor of the english proverb. the example 28 “a small leak will sink a great ship” means it can take only a minor problem to bring about the demise of a major enterprise. it can be tr

57、anslated as “千里之堤潰于蟻穴” in domestication translation strategy. however, it reads like a chinese proverb instead of translation of foreign proverb, and it shows no evidence of the original culture. “小洞可以沉大船” is better than the former version, for it contains the special culture and expression way of the original proverb. besides, target language readers can understand it without difficulty. the similar case is the example 43 “better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion”. its connotative meaning is sim